Battle of Clonard
Who Fought
United Irishmen: 2,000–4,000
27
History & Significance
The Battle of Clonard occurred on 11 July 1798 near Leinster Bridge in the townland of Clonard New, County Kildare during the Irish Rising of that year. A combined force of between 2,000 and 4,000 United Irishmen engaged a force of 27 British loyalist militia troops led by Lieutenant Thomas Tyrrell over 6 hours in an attempt to cross the River Boyne. The defenders held the fortified house until they were reinforced by a Sergeant and 11 men of the Northumberland Fencibles and 15 men of the Kinnegad Cavalry under the command and including Lt Edward Haughton when the rebels were routed and retreated to Carbury, County Kildare. The attack on Clonard was a disastrous failure and a severe blow to the surviving rebels. Many of the County Kildare rebels returned to their homes while many of the Meath men were dissuaded from joining the rebellion by the defeat and due to much of their existing stocks of ammunition being wasted in the battle.
After the rebel defeat at the battle of White Heaps/Ballygullen, the last major engagement in County Wexford, the surviving rebel forces moved into County Kildare on the 9th of July and sought to spread the rebellion on their way north to Ulster under the command of Anthony Perry, Garret and William Byrne, Edward Fitzgerald, and a local priest named Kearns they reinforced the army formerly under the command of Michael Reynolds who died at the Battle of Naas in late June.
While in Newbridge the rebels captured some kegs of fresh gunpowder. It was then decided amongst the rebel leaders that they would attack the small garrison at Clonard and cross the River Boyne and instead make their way west to join up with other rebel forces. Clonard was chosen as it was believed there was a store of arms at the garrison and to also to avoid the thousands of British troops who were combing Kildare for them.
Late in June Lt. Tyrrell received reports from locals that a large body of around 600 rebels had stationed themselves at Fox's Hill just outside of Rathmolyon and had set about raiding the locals.
Tyrrell set out to Kinnegad to gather reinforcements and sent a rider to Edenderry for additional men once gathered they set out for Fox's Hill. The Clonard Cavalry & Clonard Supplementaries under the command of Lt. Tyrrell in conjunction with the Kinnegad Yeoman Cavalry under Lt. Houghton and a small party of the Northumberland Fencibles began the attack with the Supplementaries in the lead supported by the Fencibles and Yeomen, the Edenderry force which consisted of the Canal Legion under Captain Wakely, a detachment of the Limerick Militia under Colonel Gough and the Coolestown Cavalry under Lt. Williams pressed the rebels from the opposite side attempting to surround the rebels. The rebels were routed and many slaughtered in the vicious fight which resulted in a British victory and saw the rebel leader Casey, his brother and another leader killed and their bodies brought to Edenderry where they were left exposed for several days.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Clonard lies on Sherwood Sandstone Group, bedrock that formed in the Ladinian. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.
- United Irishmen: 150 dead and around 200 wounded
- 3 dead and 8 wounded
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- Battle of Clonard · Wikipedia